New York, December 16, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the conviction by a Peruvian court of three men in the murder of radio journalist Antonio de la Torre Echeandía in Yungay, northern Áncash Region. On December 15, the Áncash Superior Court of Justice found former Yungay Mayor Amaro León guilty of masterminding the February…
New York, December 16, 2005—A Tajik journalist ordered released last month by the Supreme Court was finally freed today, a move welcomed by the Committee to Protect Journalists. Jumaboy Tolibov left a detention center in the town of Istarafshan in the northern region of Sogd, according to a local CPJ legal source and the National…
New York, December 16, 2005—As court proceedings are about to begin against three defendants in the 2000 murder of Internet journalist Georgy Gongadze, the Committee to Protect Journalists urges Ukrainian authorities to identify and prosecute all those responsible for plotting the brutal slaying. Preliminary hearings are set to begin on Monday in Kyiv against former…
New York, December 15, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned that the murderers of leading Gambian editor and press freedom activist Deyda Hydara have not been brought to justice a year after his death. As local and international press freedom groups mark the anniversary on Friday, CPJ renews its call to the Gambian…
New York, December 15, 2005—Zimbabwean police and intelligence agents today raided the independent news production company Voice of the People (VOP) in the capital, Harare. Police confiscated equipment and documents and held three staff members for questioning. Local VOP staffers produce programs on a variety of community and political issues but do not broadcast directly…
New York, December 14, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the deportation from Belarus of Polish television journalist Agnieszka Romaszewska. She was deported on Wednesday from Minsk airport. She was detained at the airport on Tuesday when she flew into the country. Romaszewska had been working for the past six months in Belarus…
New York, December 14, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the recent prosecution of journalists under laws that criminalize comment about the Turkish state, its institutions, and history. In the past three months, the authorities have used the catch-all provisions of Article 301 of the penal code to stifle writing about the massacres…
New York, December 13, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the latest example of judicial censorship in Brazil, where a São Paulo court has ordered the daily Folha de S.Paulo to stop publishing reports about a criminal case. A Federal District Court judge ordered the São Paulo-based newspaper to stop publishing reports about a pending…
New York, December 13, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists denounces the threatening messages sent to the local press freedom group Journaliste en Danger (JED) a day after it released a hard-hitting report on abuses against journalists in the Democratic Republic of Congo. On December 10, JED President Donat M’baya Tshimanga, Secretary-General Tshivis Tshivuadi, and staff…
New York, December 13, 2005—The War Crimes Chamber of the district court in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, convicted 14 former soldiers Monday on charges of torturing and executing Croatian civilians, including at least two journalists, in neighboring Croatia in 1991, according to international press reports. The defendants were given prison sentences ranging from five to…